Hacking has become a common phenomenon these days. It is highly important that you keep your data secure. We have already told how to keep your Gmail account secure. To add to that, today we will tell you how to encrypt Gmail messages.
Encrypt Gmail Messages
Before we start, here are few tutorials which we believe are under must read category to enhance web security.
Now since you have gone through the above mentioned security tutorials, here is what we will tell you today. Learn how to encrypt Gmail messages. There are paid and free services/tools to encrypt Gmail messages. Let’s see them one by one.
1. Encrypt Gmail Messages With Encipher.it (Free)
Encipher.it is a simple bookmarklet which allows users to encrypt and decrypt messages before sending them. This tool uses AES i.e. Advanced Encryption Standard to protect data. All of the encoding and decoding is done locally in the browser.
To use Encipher.it, first you need to go to its homepage. From there drag Encipher.it link in your bookmark bar. Drag n drop method is quite convenient if you are using Firefox or Chrome. For Internet Explorer you just need to right-click on the link and click on “Add to Favorites”.
Once you are done, open Gmail and type your message. After typing, click on the newly added bookmark of Encipher.it. This will give a pop up window asking for and encryption key which can be set as per your choice. After entering the encryption key, click on encrypt button.
This will convert the message into a cypher. On the top there will be a sentence mentioning that the message is encrypted. The person receiving the message, also have to use encipher.it for decrypting the message. Once the decryption key is entered, the message will convert into readable format.
2. Google Message Encryption (Paid)
Google Message Encryption service is powered by Postini and it provides on-demand message encryption for organizations. It enables organizations to securely exchange sensitive information with business partners and customers using encrypted mail. This encryption is applicable for Gmail and other mail services also. GME service secures all outgoing emails using a secure SSL/TSL encryption connection. Secure portal enables delivery of protected email through a secure, web-based portal. Encrypted messages are either delivered directly to the recipient’s inbox or stored on a web-based portal.
Features provided by GME are:
- Secure, encrypted, auditable communication
- Content-based policy enforcement
- Web portal or inbox delivery options
- Always on, always current
- Rapid implementation
There are other tools also, solving the same purpose but many of them are either outdated or support old browser versions. In our opinion, for common users Encipher.it is an easy tool to encrypt the mails whereas GME is a good solution for bigger business organizations.
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